Biotechnology and our food Essay examples

Monsanto and the Dangers of Biotechnology Genetically modified organisms are found everywhere. Ever since their start in the early 90’s, the amount of GMOs consumed by American’s has increased exponentially. A recent statistic has found that 70% of the food sold in America contains at least one genetically modified additive (Robin). One would assume that this technology has gone through many tests to validate its safety in regards to human health because we have agencies that are supposed to be protecting us from harmful things in our food. Also, if the food wasn’t 100% safe, one would assume that the FDA would not let it be added to an overwhelming majority of the food we eat, right? Sadly, the answer is no. Tight relationships, called revolving doors, between the FDA and the corporations making the food allow them to be sold to the consumer as quickly as possible, without adequate knowledge about their effects on our health. A Genetically modified organism is any organism whose genetic code has been scientifically altered in order to produce certain desired traits, such as immunity to an herbicide like Roundup (Robin). This is great for farmers because it reduces the amount of work they have to do in order to grow their crops. Usually, when a crop grows, the farmer has to go around and hand-pick all of the weeds growing with it. With the genetically modified crops, the farmer can just spray large amounts of Roundup herbicide on them and all other plants besides the crop are destroyed. This innovation has caused a skyrocket in the yields of farmers using these seeds, and has created an abundance of GM foods everywhere. The biggest concern with GM foods is that they are simply unsafe for long term consumption by humans. Countless studies done by third party research has shown that the addition of certain proteins in DNA used in GMOs can promote the conditions needed for cancerous cell division to begin (Robin). The perfectly executed corporate takeover of the FDA by Monsanto, has allowed GMOs to be sold to the consumer without adequate knowledge of their effects on our health. The enormous amount of money one can make from selling food to the world has motivated the companies to do whatever they can to stop their regulation. For example, a man named Michael Taylor became the head of the FDA, in order to approve the GM regulation rules that he had just previously written himself as a lawyer for a major GM producer (The Amazing Revolving Door). The main producer of genetically modified seeds is a company by the name of Monsanto, the same company that Michael Taylor had wrote these regulations with. They are also the same company that produces Roundup herbicide, and created Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, when they were strictly a chemical company (Monsanto Website). This huge multinational corporation has been caught lying about the safety of their products on multiple occasions, and their negligence has taken many innocent lives. For example, for four decades, a Monsanto plant in West Anniston, Alabama produced chemicals called PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, used for electrical insulators. Monsanto made a fiscal agreement with the State of Alabama to bury their industrial waste within the city limits of Anniston. They also dumped over 16 pounds of PCB waste into the public water system every day. The state and Monsanto agreed to keep it completely secret from the public. These hazardous chemicals leaked into the ground water and soil, and the residents of Anniston soon felt the effects. Since Anniston was primary a farming town, the people ate the food grown from soil contaminated by PCBs, and now their blood is contaminated by highly toxic levels of this poison (Israel). The Anniston Community Health Survey said, “Anniston residents have up to seven times more PCBs in their bodies than the average for other Americans.” High levels of PCB in the blood have been directly linked to increased diabetes, and

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